The Challenge of Viral Video
by Michael HoffmanWednesday, December 19th, 2007
“We want to make a viral video,” says the client.
“But it also has to have all the facts right, and be on message for our organization and not hurt our brand.”
No problem.
The Onion has a nice piece that puts this in perspective:
YouTube Debate Becomes Website’s First Ignored Video
SAN BRUNO, CA—In an effort to connect with younger voters and tap into the immense popularity of the video-sharing website, Democrat and Republican candidates participated in the first-ever presidential debates shown on YouTube to at least 11 viewers.
An estimated 50 percent of the video’s viewers clicked on the link by accident.
The video debates—which received one comment, two stars, and was favorited by no one—featured candidates answering a variety of viewer-generated questions ranging from health care to the Iraq war, and racked up 4,881,990 fewer views than a 56-second video of a sleepy cat posted the same day.
“Don’t tase me, bro!” an unnamed University of Florida student said in a video that captured the attention of college-age men and women across the country. “Oww! Oww! Oww!”
Despite being highlighted on YouTube’s main page for the three weeks preceding and following each debate, the two videos remain among the site’s least watched, receiving five fewer views than an identical debate video that was sped up and set to the popular novelty song “Yakety Sax.” Nevertheless, 2008 Democratic candidate John Edwards reportedly called the debates a “success for modern elections” in an e-mail to CollegeHumor.com, urging the popular comedy outlet to please post the video somewhere, anywhere on its website.
Although Republican frontrunner Rudolph Giuliani touted his ability to bring in literally hundreds of new viewers to November’s GOP debate, the Federal Election Commission ruled that his campaign misled voters and broke federal law when it tagged the video as “Lindsay Lohan Britney Spears VMAs Boobs The Notebook Kiss Scene Juggling Letterman Spiderman.” The FEC also discounted several accidental views resulting from searches for “Hilary Duff,” “Dennis the Menace,” and “Daily Show Republican Debate.”
While official YouTube estimates put the debates’ total number of hits at just under a dozen, some candidates claimed the statistics had been miscalculated and should be rounded up to 13 to include the time Democratic candidate Joe Biden was unable to view the video because his dial-up Internet connection was too slow.
Leaders from both parties said they were already looking forward to holding similar debates in 2008, and that the next round will feature expanded interactive features for YouTube members, more candid discussions between candidates, and a surprise ending involving Mentos and Diet Coke.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
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December 19th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
[…] Michael Hoffman wrote an interesting post today on The Challenge of Viral VideoHere’s a quick excerptThe FEC also discounted several accidental views resulting from searches for “Hilary Duff,” “Dennis the Menace,” and “Daily Show Republican Debate.” While official YouTube estimates put the debates’ total number of hits at just under a … […]
December 31st, 2007 at 5:12 am
“We need to come up with a much different, better, more engaging and more imaginative kind of concept for this client,” say the planners, strategists, and creative heads.
Time passes. No one says anything.
“I know! Let’s make a viral video that will communicate the client’s brand values in a fresh, hip, tongue-in-cheek way that will engage with a younger donor demographic!!” says a young, ambitious creative drone.
“Hurray!” they all cried and went to the pub to celebrate.
March 19th, 2008 at 8:19 am
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